KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The UMKC men’s soccer team (5-6-3, 3-3 WAC) held on for the 2-1 victory over the visiting Grand Canyon Lopes (6-8, 3-3 WAC) on Friday night, opening its two-game set with its first win in four outings.

Eric McWoods (St. Louis, Mo.) and Christian Anderaos (Sao Paulo, Brazil) kick started UMKC’s offensive momentum, and put the Lopes goalkeeper to work early on, as the Roos tallied the first two shots of the game in the first 17 minutes of action.

In the 20th minute, defender Diego Serfaty (Sunrise, Fla.) banged in his third goal of the season right in front of the net, courtesy of a corner kick by Anderaos.

Over the next 20 minutes, UMKC goalkeeper Filippo Errico (Verona, Italy) was forced to make three crafty saves to keep Grand Canyon off the board. A ball played back to Errico in the 40th minute of the match set up UMKC’s second goal of the evening. The sophomore keeper blasted the ball down field to a charging McWoods. McWoods beat his defender, and sent the ball through the back of the net, to give UMKC the 2-0 lead going into the locker room.

Eight saves later by Errico, the Lopes snuck their lone goal of the game past the UMKC defense with less than eight minutes to play. Errico’s season and career-high ninth save of the match in the 89th minute helped the Roos hold on for the victory.

UMKC will return to the pitch when it hosts UNLV on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.